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An introduction to Melanie Williams (Owner and Head Chef)

10th December 2019

News

1.How long have you been a chef?

I have been involved with creating and cooking professionally for many many years. I first worked as an agency chef when I left college and then I ended up at the front of the events managing them on a day to day basis. I really missed the kitchen so I sharpened my knives back in the early 90’s and became an event chef working for some of the big sporting locations feeding 500 at a time, and then eventually opened up my own catering agency in 2010

2. Where are you based?

We are based in the heart of the Surrey Hills, which gives us a huge advantage of being able to bring lots of lovely fresh ingredients including meat and vegetables to our kitchen on a daily basis.

3. How many are in your team?

Altogether at present we have a team of 22 which includes several other fabulous professional chefs who have worked in some amazing spaces.

4. How many can you cater for at any one time?

As I was originally an event chef to me the more I can feed the better! It does not concern me at all if you said, we have a celebration/Wedding and want to feed 500. To me that would be an exciting logistical pleasure to put that together. I am a stickler for detail and love nothing more than ticking off my colour coded lists!

5. What is your signature dish.

I don’t have any particular one because I simply love creating beautiful food. But if I had to choose one it would probably be something to do with Chocolate like my Dark Rum truffle torte with an Amaretto crumb.

6. Why should we choose you to cater for our event?

If you choose Lavender you will be in safe professional experienced hands. We are a very ‘can do’ team, and love nothing better than to make sure no one goes home hungry. Our food is beautifully presented, it is always fresh, and your event will run as smoothly as possible. We always like to say, just come as a guest in your own home and let us do the rest.

7. What are you doing to save our planet.

Firstly we try and do as much as we can to save the trees, we hate plastic so we use as little as possible, and everything we throw away gets recycled. Nothing goes to Landfill. We try our very best to keep our Carbon footprint as low as possible.